House Democrats Block Bill Tying Storm Aid to FAA Funding
September 25 2017 - 8:07PM
Dow Jones News
By Natalie Andrews and Andy Pasztor
WASHINGTON -- House Democrats blocked a bill on Monday intended
to give relief to taxpayers in areas damaged by recent hurricanes
in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, on the grounds that it doesn't
match previous, similar disaster relief bills or address other
concerns in Congress, such as the fate of young immigrants.
The hurricane tax relief was tacked on to a bill to extend
funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, which expires on
Saturday.
The bill, which needed two-thirds support to pass the House
under a fast-track procedure, fell short, with 245 in favor and 171
against.
The bill was set to give U.S. taxpayers affected by this year's
hurricanes bigger-than-usual deductions for their property losses
and penalty-free access to retirement accounts. It doesn't extend
the same-level of tax relief that was given to victims of Hurricane
Katrina in 2005.
The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the
bill would result in $6.63 billion in tax relief in 2018.
"The weak tax provisions added to this package don't treat all
families recovering from natural disasters the same," House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said in a statement. "All
Americans, no matter where they live, deserve the same relief and
resources they need to rebuild their lives."
In her statement objecting to the legislation, Mrs. Pelosi also
questioned why the Dream Act, which would help undocumented
immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children, could not also
be added to the bill.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) accused Democrats of playing
politics.
"It's shameful that politics will trump meaningful relief for
families suffering from these devastating hurricanes. House
Democrats are willing to shut down air-traffic control to make a
political point," Mr. Ryan said in a statement.
Democrats also objected to the legislation, introduced by Texas
Rep. Kevin Brady who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee,
because it doesn't help people in Western states affected by recent
wildfires, as well as those still recovering from past natural
disasters, such as superstorm Sandy in 2012.
Should the FAA funding not be extended, thousands of FAA
employees could be furloughed, and projects at airports will come
to a halt. But even before the FAA bill became embroiled in debate
over hurricane relief and other issues, passage of a longer-term
package reauthorizing the agency already appeared unlikely.
Partisan splits have kept the FAA measure from getting to the floor
of either chamber as House and Senate leaders remain at odds over
controversial proposals for FAA policy changes, such as shifting
the nation's air-traffic control system to a nonprofit
corporation.
With one week left before the FAA's current authorities are due
to expire, the House is expected to abandon partisan provisions and
pass a stripped-down, short-term FAA bill. Senate leaders, among
other things, are expected to drop language intended to reduce
minimum experience requirements for newly hired co-pilots. Down the
road, both sides also will have to work out differences over
regulating drones and protecting rights of airline passengers.
Stretching back 10 years, both FAA and industry officials have
complained that nearly two dozen short-term, stopgap agency funding
bills significantly hurt air-traffic control modernization plans
and delayed other FAA priorities. At the start of the latest debate
on an FAA bill months ago, House and Senate Republican leaders
expressed confidence that pattern would be broken.
Kristina Peterson contributed to this article.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 25, 2017 19:52 ET (23:52 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.